Today's News

The four candidates for mayor of Lancaster are scheduled to address questions Monday at the Before You Vote 2010 Candidate Forum at the University of South Carolina at Lancaster’s Bundy Auditorium.
Doors will open at 5:30 p.m., and the forum begins at 6 p.m.
Mayoral candidates are Joe Shaw (incumbent), Linda Blackmon-Brace, Donnie Birchfield and Mary Helen Yarborough.

Lancaster County’s jobless rate dropped in September by 1.4 percent to 15.7 percent.
The county’s jobless rate, however, remains above both the state and national rate.
In September, the nation’s jobless rate stood at 9.6 percent, where it has been for much of 2010. The state’s jobless rate declined slightly in September to 11 percent.
The state’s jobless rate in August was 11.1 percent. South Carolina had the sixth-highest jobless rate in the nation in September.

Applications for Leroy Springs student loans will be available on Nov. 1 for students seeking assistance for college costs for the spring semester. The deadline for receipt of applications is Dec. 1.
The Springs Close Foundation Inc. has made 133 interest-free loans so far this year to college students who live in Lancaster County and the Chester and Fort Mill areas.

The Olde Presbyterian Church on West Gay Street had a few bats in its belfry before a renovation project began last year.
Well, not exactly. The bats, more than a few – try 1,500 to 2,000 – found a home in the attic, not the belfry, of the roughly 140-year-old church.
Two species of bats, the little brown bat and Mexican free-tailed bat, colonized in the attic, raising generations of bats for at least 20 years, said Jason Peeples of Forest and Wildlife Innovations, a company that specializes in removing nuisance animals from populated areas.

Two familiar faces along with two political newcomers create the only four-person race for local voters this election season.
Donnie Birchfield, City Councilwoman Linda Blackmon-Brace, incumbent Joe Shaw and Mary Helen Yarborough are vying for Lancaster’s mayor’s seat. Shaw has held the post for 28 years.
Election Day is Nov. 2.Birchfield

As Election Day nears, thousands of dollars in campaign contributions have poured in for candidates in local and state elections.
Candidates in the races for the state House seats in districts 44 and 45, as well as those for the county school board seats for districts 1 and 7, have seen funds contributed from a number of sources. This includes private citizens, businesses, political parties and political action committees. Here are comparisons among candidates in each of these races:District 44 House

Cotton Cole said he always felt out of place during Democratic events.
The county councilman contemplated changing his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican for more than a year and said recent events encouraged him to make the change.
Cole, who’s serving his first term on council, announced his party change Friday morning at the Lancaster County Republican Party’s headquarters on Main Street in Lancaster.

Christmas came early in Cheraw on this crisp fall Friday night as Buford was in the giving mood, delivering four fumbles to the Braves along with two dropped interceptions that could have changed the outcome.